Cultural Differences (Sociology Essay Sample)

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The North and South American regions and South Asia exhibit a number of differences and similarities, when considering the ways of life of people, such as belief systems, traditions, practices and other hidden ways of life. North American so far, is the most populated of the three, hence one can expect it to be constituted of the countries with diverse rich cultures in consideration to family prioritization, religion, education approach, nationalism, personal sensitivity, personal appearance, etiquette, status, ethics and aesthetics in comparison to South America and South Asia. North America consists of the countries, such as the United States of America, Caribbean Islands, , , Canada. In South America, we come across countries that are to the south of Panama. On the same note, South Asian core countries include India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Maldives, Nepal and Bhutan. Therefore, in these regions, there exist a number of cultural heritages of many societies, ethnic groups and nationalities.

The first notable comparable difference that pertains to the three regions is religion. North and South America is mostly dominated by Christianity. In other words, Christianity is the most prevalent religion in North and South America as compared to other religions such as Islam, Buddhism, Judaism and Hinduism. Actually, Christianity takes about 80.5% in the entire North and South America while other religions take the remaining percentages with the highest estimated to take 12.1% that are unaffiliated (Jaffee, 2004). On the other hand, the story takes a different direction since Christianity is the decimal religion in the entire South Asia. Actually, other religions including Buddhism, Sikhism, Hinduism and Jainism originated from India which a country in South Asia. It is important to note that currently, 30% of South Asian region is occupied by Muslims, especially in India, Pakistan, Maldives and Bangladesh.

The difference that can be noticed in the three regions pertaining to religion is the presence of buildings associated with specific religions, which are evenly and relatively distributed in the regions, where people meet for their religious meetings. These include churches, shrines, temples, Buddhist monasteries, Islamic centers and Hindu temples. Another observable similarity in these three regions of the world is the freedom of worship guaranteed by the constitution in most of the countries. This implies that all the religious groups are free to practice their beliefs in all areas within their reach in the countries and cannot be intimidated or threatened by another religious group. Religious beliefs in these regions normally dictate some traditions and practices such as funerals. For instance, in America, Christians such as Catholics prefer to hold a mass for the dead in the church. For the case of the Jews and Muslims, a ritual bath and no embalming is done unlike in other religions in North and South America.

The next cultural distinction that pertains to these regions is celebrations and festivals. In South Asia, dance is the common denominator or cultural component, which normally forms part of channels for announcing various seasons and events of the year. The people in South Asia region are known to dance to the tune or beat of drums as they sing. This implies that dance is an integral essence of culture with a slight difference in the dancing styles. For example; courtly dances, dance of dramas and dances of celebration. In actual sense, this is the cultural aspect that has been the most prevalent in South Asia and even to date, in most countries. On the other hand, in North America, the common cultural denominator is music culture. In South America, pop culture rise above most of other aspects of culture in the region.

There is also unique set of dishes and food stuffs adopted by people in these regions. In North America, we come across Traditional Thanksgiving dinner packed with Turkey, sweet potatoes, dressing, and cranberry sauce, a Caesar that is made from lemon juice, pepper, olive oil, croutons and parmesan (Bertram, 1993). These are some of the most common cuisine in North America. In South America most people are so inclined to dishes such as apple cobbler desert and South American style breakfast with sausage links, fried eggs, bacon strips, maple syrup and pancakes.

Family culture is also a widespread cultural aspect in these regions. This pertains to family prioritization, children celebration, domestic role of women and mobility. In South America, family is always graced with the first priority before anything or taking part in any activity. It is because of this culture that many in these regions normally prefer to fulfill their family obligations first before attending to their work and in compromising cases, family normally have the upper hand. However, in North America, especially in the United States of America, family is normally second to work. This implies that many in these regions prioritize securing their job or work opportunities before seeking to establish families. In compromising situations, families are not given a very high value as compared to work and other activities. All these are different in case of the South Asians, who give an equal treat to families and work. There is also a distinction in the manner of treatment normally given to children. The South Americans normally celebrate children and shelter them for whole of their lives while in North America region, children tend to be so independent and are minimally parented. In case of South Asia, children normally celebrated and parented, but in the course of time they are left to be independent by their parents. The same trend also applies to family mobility. In north family mobility is not limited as in the case of North America regions, while in South Asia, family mobility is in the hands of the family and no factor is ever known to affect family mobility (Bertram, 1993).

In general, variations in cultures in North America, South America and South Asia dictate a large segment of the entire society including business, personalities, self restrain and individual life styles in a broader perspective. For instance, in North America, the business culture revolv